March 13, 2012

Wigle—which is pronounced to rhyme with squiggle—is named for a good-natured man who was sentenced to hang for his unsinkable love of whiskey. In 1794, Phillip Wigle—traditionally pronounced Vigol or Weigel—defended his right to distill in a tussle with a tax collector. He unwittingly helped spark the Whiskey Rebellion, which pitted Pennsylvania distillers against George Washington’s troops.